Saturday, May 21, 2011

Chase 3 May 18th 2011 Denver Funnel & Hail

Leaving the hospital in Aurora, I was in constant communication with Shep about the massive rotating mesocyclone over Denver. This produced a very scenic funnel almost making it to the ground. Shep in Commerce City had the perfect vantage point since he was working there filming LaCrosse tournaments. I was a little south but with my eagle eyes looking through I could see but wasn't able to photograph the main themed that stole the show.My friend Aragorn giving me a ride home to Greeley both decided to do a little chase in Denver. Traffic killed timing. We finally made it to 104th on I-25 and headed east to 85. In Thornton, 1-3 inches accumulated on I-25. On 104th, we punched the redeveloping cells popping from the south moving northwards. This was great because it hailed again pretty good. We both enjoyed the thrill of pea sized hail while coring the storm. Once we got far enough east to 85 the base of the storm was outflowing. To the south towards Commerce City, I rolled down my windows and could still hear the tornado sirens going off. This apparently was another round of rotating outflow meso, creating fast moving scuds and funnels. I was able to look at the right time to my south and see a large funnel out front of the outflow mess. All in all, temps were rapidly decreasing and the storm was losing upper level shear quickly due to the lack of mountains to keep forcing and organization. Therefore, producing a long band of outflow moving eastward. This was a great way to start the freedom.